Thank you for taking the time to share this moment.  The month is almost at its close.  Like many, I am still finding my feet.  The larger landscape feels unstable and unsure, so I am turning inward to find my footing.

It’s January and it’s time to hold yourself tenderly like a flower.  Take time to find your oasis and drink deeply.  Mine is found outside or in the pages of a book.  Wintering:  The Power of Rest and Retreat by Katherine May is solace.  I remind myself to be gentle and be brave at the same time, like dressing for chilly weather.  Soft and defended like mittens, hats and sturdy boots for winter walks at sunset. 

January is my birthday month, and I’m appreciating the gift of winter blooming superstars!  One of my favorites is the perennial flowering Lenten Rose or Hellebore.  I could write an ode to this perennial so close to my heart.  They are evergreen and keep their glossy leaves, deer don’t like them (win!)… And they bloom when nothing else is blooming.  Their nodding heads of white, cream, cranberry, or deep fuchsia are exquisite.  And LOOOOONG blooming in a bud vase.  If we do have an early spring, they will be here to greet our pollinators when they awake.  Here is a fantastic article about selecting and growing hellebores. 

January is a time for DREAMING.  Now you see the bare bones of your garden and may envision changes to make in the coming year.  Go outside and take some pictures with your iPhone.  What do you see?  Look at the evergreens, offering a steady structure for your garden. See the deciduous trees and shrubs with their lovely architecture of stems and branches in the garden.  One of my favorite tools to use in garden design is my iPad and iPencil.  Take one of your photos and begin to draw in a tree, a garden bed, or a patio…allow yourself to have some fun and fill in those empty spaces.  Pencil in tall evergreens and then try a deciduous tree in its place.  How does it change the feel of your garden?  Maybe draw in some flowers or imagine a new pathway.  Let me know if you give this a try. 

If you are longing to get outside and do SOMETHING for your garden, now is a fantastic time to check out your tree canopy and remove invasive plants.  Did you have any limbs come down during the winter storm?  Your trees may need a check-up.  One of my favorite arborists at Bartlett’s recommends scheduling now so that your arborist can easily evaluate the tree’s structure and health during the Winter months and prepare them for Spring. You may contact Warner Winthrop here.  If you want to address invasives in the garden, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden has a great article about “The Dirty Dozen” here.  According to the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), the following are common traits of invasive plant species:

• They grow, mature, and spread quickly

• They produce and disperse a lot of seeds

• They out-compete native species for critical resources including light, water, and nutrients

• They require significant amounts of time, energy, and/or money to control

Now is a perfect time to get after them.  I have one that keeps popping up in my garden…that pesky nemesis…English Ivy!  The earlier you detect and remove invasive plants, the easier it is to manage them.  I prefer to pull them out at the roots after a good rain and throw them in the trash (instead of composting).  I will probably wait on this, however.  Mother Nature is telling me to rest.

On a personal note, my Winter Garden looks very different to me this year.  I’m planning to leave my perennials and grasses up until March or so to provide a habitat for slumbering bees and other pollinators in my garden. I’ve also left the leaves in my garden beds for them to snuggle under the earth and to emerge later on this spring.  So there’s not much to DO.  And this allows more time for dreaming and resting.  I have time to identify what I enjoy and what things to move on. For me, many of those things have been high-maintenance plants that required me to fertilize, spray, and manage their existence. Now I realize I’m more likely to appreciate resilient plants. Plants that are flexible and able to roll with the weather extremes that seem to be coming our way. They are telling me to be more flexible too.

Over the past year, I’ve been learning more about Native plants and learning how to incorporate them into classic Garden Design.  It’s so fun to keep learning new ways of partnering with Nature, and I am looking forward to what unfolds this Spring.  I am planning to attend Lewis Ginter’s Winter Symposium (details here) and the Virginia Society of Landscape Design Winter Forum (link here) next month.   We are so fortunate to have Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in our backyard. They have fantastic classes on Garden Design, as well as seasonal tours starting in February.  I am eyeing this class on Ecological Garden Cleanup. When I want to be inspired, a stroll at Lewis Ginter is a delight in any season. 

Wishing you more time to dream, rest, and discover your oasis this Winter season. 

-See you in the garden, Wendell